The Simpsons Complete 1st Season:
Over 350 episodes and hundreds of characters ago, there actually was a Season 1 of the Simpsons. With only a handful of writers and a good following for a show originally used as 20 second bumpers for the Tracy Ulman Show, the Simpsons finally made it's television debut as it's own series in December of 1989, and is still going, despite the dip in quality and lack of support it once had from long time fans. The Simpsons has evolved so much since then to the point you need a calculator to add up all the the recurring characters. From season 1, you can pretty much count them all in one go: Patty & Selma, Grandpa Simpson, Mrs. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, Moe, Barney, Apu, Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, Dr. Marvin Monroe, Millhouse, and Mr. Burns (and Smithers, too). Anyway, enough about that, and on to Season 1 in a series of reviews for each DVD set I can do.
Episode #1: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
The "First" episode of the series and it's the Christmas Special! Hurray! The animated is a bit whacky and the voices just aren't right yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Bart selfishly gets a tattoo, which forces Marge to use up all of the jar money to have removed. Since Homer isn't getting his bonus from Mr. Burns this year, it looks like the Simpsons won't be having Christmas. To try and bring some holiday cheer, Homer steals a Christmas tree and takes a job as a Mall Santa. When that only nets him $13, he goes to the track with one last effort, which leads to the Simpsons welcoming a new member to the family, Santa's Little Helper. The placement of this episode erases the dog from the next 7 or so episodes, since everything was pushed back thanks to some terrible animation returned before the shows premiere.
Rating: 10/10 - Great episode to start the season (or should I say series?), as long as people ignore voices being different and out of sync' with the animation. When watching this episode and something from recent years, you can't imagine how different everything is... in terms of everything, from the animation to the horrible storylines.
Episode #2: Bart The Genius
Bart needs to prepare for an I.Q. test of some sorts, but after Martin Prince, local pansy and braniac, ticks him off, Bart manages to do the old switch-a-roo with the tests so that he has Martin's and Martin has Bart's made up answers. Naturally, Bart is labeled a genius by the schools psychologist, Dr. Prior, and is quickly shipped off to a school for the smart. Bart is lost even more than usual, but is now being treated better by his family for being smart, which leads to Marge taking the family out for a night at opera. Bart and Homer make the scene the most memorable by hassling the singers and making rude noises throughout. It's not until Bart causes a chemical explosion that he confesses his dastardly deed and faces the music... reading a comic book naked in bed while Homer scratches at the door trying to kill him.
Rating: 9/10 - Great episode, but not as good as some of the episodes I've given perfect scores to. Features one of my favorite scenes in the first season (the Opera part), and gave me the "weiner" joke that everyone seems to get pissed off about at me for pointing out. :D
Episode #3: Homer's Odyssey
Three episodes into the series, and Homer is already fired from the nuclear power plant. In one of those bizarre animation decisions of the series, Wayland Smithers is apparently an African-American for this episodes, and explained that it was done to fill up the black quota... okay, it wasn't in those words, but you get the hang of it. On a suicide mission, Homer realizes that he's needed in the world to keep people safe, and goes on a cruisade to have as many safety signs put up as possible, until he comes to the Power Plant, the ultimate in being unsafe. We get the (for real) first ever meeting between Homer and Mr. Burns, and Homer is given the job of Safety Inspector, a job title he has managed to keep as of this typing, unless I missed something by not watching the last couple of seasons, and judging by the ones I have seen, I'm not wrong. The animation is still pretty crappy, but it's chugging along like the little engine that could.
Rating: 7/10 - Fun episode, but pretty lackluster in the long run. Nothing wrong with watching it, but it's a rather weaker effort in every category compared to most of the others from this season.
Episode #4: There's No Disgrace Like Home
Whoever wrote this episode must've been in bizarro-land, because everything is fucking off it's not really that funny. In the first place, Homer is made the worried family member who doesn't want to be looked down upon by everyone in the community, Marge doesn't really care and apparently is a booze-hound, and both Bart and Lisa are ultimate brats doing everything possible to make a bad impression for Homer at Mr. Burn's birthday party, including Bart trying to beat the withered old bat in a potato sack race. After examining several of the families in the neighborhood (and trampling their own flower patch), Homer decides to take his family to Dr. Marvin Monroe, after witnessing a commercial during a boxing fight. To make the money for the visit, Homer pawns the television, another thing he would never do (teacher, mother, secret lover?!). The theropy doesn't work, including Electro-Shock Theropy, which at the time was awesome, but now kinda loses it's steem. The morale of the episode... just do nothing.
Rating: 5/10 - My second to least favorite episode of the season. Again, the errors in logic just fucks around everything enjoyable about the show, and the final blowoff is just the family being themselves, unresolved, and nearly ruining an annoying mans business.
Episode #5: Bart The General
Desperate for cupcakes, Bart kisses butt and insults Lisa for most of the opening minutes of the episode, until a bully gets in the way. Bart stands up for her, but in the process picks a fight with the biggest bully of them all, Nelson Muntz, who doesn't take kindly to "Bleeding his own blood." Nelson beats the crap out of Bart several times, despite Bart taking Homer's advice of throwing mud in his eyes and going for the family jewels. Along with the help of Grandpa Simpson and Herman, the one-armed man who runs Herman's Military Antiques, Bart wages war on Nelson and his unnamed lackies along with the help of every kid in Springfield. The episode ends with Bart talking negatively about the subject about war, except for the following exceptions: The American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars Trilogy.
Rating: 7/10 - Outside of the scenes with Homer talking about "family jewels", Bart coughing up his lucky red cap and Grandpa's hate filled letter to television network executives, this episode really doesn't do much for me in every other department. Not a bad episode, but not one of those fun ones that you can watch over and over again.
Episode #6: Moaning Lisa
Lisa is sad, but no one knows why. She's unhappy about everything, she can't play her saxophone without her teacher yelling at her, too depressed to participatein in a food fight or play Dodgeball, or do anything else fun. In the meantime, Bart is whooping Homer's ass at Super Slugfest, which is quite similar to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, except the two characters fighting are animated to look a bit like Homer and Bart. Lisa continues moaning... damn that sounds disgusting, about whatever, until she comes across a Jazz musician by the name of Bleeding Gums Murphy, who helps her along the way of finding her smile. Too bad Murphy died, or he could've found Shawn Michaels' before he forfeited the title in 1997. In the b-story, Homer tracks down a video game expert kid to teach him how to win at Super Slugfest, but Bart retires as Marge pulls the plug on Homer's would be victory.
Rating: 5/10 - My least favorite episode of the season, mainly because Lisa is my least favorite character. She's gotten even more annoying since then, so you can imagine how much I like the character now (if I actually watched the show anymore).
Episode #7: Call of the Simpsons
When trying to compete with Flanders' purchase of an RV, Homer goes to buy one himself from Bob's RV Round-Up (owner? voiced by Albert Brooks). However, Homer can't afford the Behemoth, and probably can't afford anything except the most delapitated on the lot. No sooner than when they're on the road does Homer get lost and ends up crashing his RV off a cliff, losing his family and himself in the woods in the process. Homer, Bart and Maggie go off to leave Lisa and Marge to make camp. Maggie quickly ditches and winds up with a family of bears, and of course, Homer is oblivious to his missing baby. More bad luck happens upon them until Homer, covered in mud, is mistaken for big foot. Although It's quite obvious Homer ISN'T a mythylogical ape-man, doctors (lead by Dr. Marvin Monroe) don't have conclussive evidence and let him go.
Rating: 7/10 - Not one of the best episodes, but once again shows how "down to earth" the Simpsons storylines were. Random note: I still have Burger King Kids Meal Toys™ released around this time of images of Homer, Bart, and the rest in their camping clothes.
Episode #8: The Telltale Head
In one of those "Flintstones/Dick van Dyke" openings, the show starts with the finish and then works in a flashback mode. Marge is being an uptight bitch as usual, and Bart wants to go see a new monster movie. Outside the theater, he runs into local bullies Jimbo Jones (with different voice), Kearney, and Dolph. They sneak in and are quickly dumped out. While watching the clouds, the bullies give Bart the idea of cutting off the head of the Jebediah Springfield statue. Bart does the dirty deed, pissing off the entire town, and when the bullies confess that it was all "Cloud Talk", Bart has no one to go to for support. After the voices in his mind lead him to confess the deed to his family, Homer and he are quickly surrounded by a mob of characters, and so that's where we begun. All ends happily ever after though, so no worries. I think this episode marked the first time we saw Sideshow Bob, except he had a afro type hairdo instead of the one we're all familiar with.
Rating: 8/10 - Another decent episode, and once more it wasn't anything really memorable. Some jokes like Homer listening to football games on a radio in church over the voice of Reverend Lovejoy are great, but the entire episode just seems to be missing something.
Episode #9: Life on the Fast Lane
It's Marge's birthday, and once again Homer has forgotten, so he sneaks out of the horse (in a not so subtle way) to get one as fast as possible. In the meantime, Marge talks to her sisters, who remind her of all of the crappy presents Homer has gotten her (tackle box? Connie Chung Calender?!), but she refuses to accept Homer's thoughtless behavior. Naturally, Homer buys her a bowling ball... with his name engraved on it. Marge spitefully goes bowling to teach Homer a lesson, and runs into a french-speaking charmer (who seems to lose his accent when ordering onion rings), Jacques Brunswik (also voiced by Albert Brooks). They hit it off, and Marge is now spending all her nights at the Bowl-o-Rama. Not until she comes across a very unusual street lined with couples from the young to the dead does she choose to stay with Homer in a somewhat touching moment for a cartoon show. Random note... Mall Store Names: International House of Answering Machines, The Jerky Hut ("too salty."), The Ear Piercery, The Carmel Corn Warehouse ("too corny."), and Girdles N' Such Fancy Lingerie ("too exciting.").
Rating: 10/10 - One of the best episodes of the season, I believe, mainly because it's a very real storyline incorporated into a cartoon universe. It lacks the humor of most episodes, but what is funny is really funny (:Four onion rings!")
Episode #10: Homer's Night Out
During a bachlor party for Homer's assitant-turned-supervisor in 6 months, Bart uses his spy-cam (which he waited 6 months for) to take a picture of Homer having a good time with a Stripper/Exotic Dancer/Whatever. It isn't until literally everyone in Springfield has seen the photo until Marge finds out, and thus kicks him out of the house, forcing him to live with Barney (the drunk). Homer begs for forgiveness, but Marge is more upset about the image he gave Bart about his treatment of women. After searching every nudie bar in the city with Bart in tow, Homer finally tracks down the woman from the Rusty Barnacle to apologize to her and teach Bart a lesson, but not until he does a little dance on stage with a club singer and his never-ending stream of women. Random note... Strip Joints Homer & Bart Visit: Florence of Arabia, The Girlesque (Wet T-Shirt Nite!), Foxy Boxy, Mud City, and The Sapphire Lounge.
Rating: 8/10 - The good episodes keep on coming. One of my favorites from Season 1. Marge getting so worked up over a photo taken at a bachelor party is pretty funny. Maybe she wasn't getting any from Homer for a while or something?
Episode #11: The Crepes of Wrath
Principal Skinner is finally fed up with Bart's antics, and offers the chance for the Simpsons to send Bart to France as part of a Foreign Exchange Program. In return, the Simpson family welcomes Albanian, Adil... no idea on how to spell his last name. Hoxha was it? Adil charms everyone, but secretly is sending transmitting information from Homer's power plant to head quarters. He's caught, for those who care. Meanwhile in Paris, Bart is being worked like a dog by his new "parents", treating him like shit and basically breaking 500 crimes a minute with child labor and cruelty. Bart manages to plead to a policeman in french at the end, and is a big hero coming home back where he belongs.
Rating: 7/10 - Not one of my favorite episodes, but this one shows a side of Bart that makes you feel sorry for him compared to him being a total brat that no one could really like. The B-storyline sucked, so that explains the lower rating.
Episode #12: Krusty Gets Busted
While shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart for some ice cream to go along with a slide-show from Patty & Selma, Homer witnesses a robbery from Krusty the Clown, local television hero and Bart's idol. However, somethings not right... Krusty has a pacemaker, but was working a microwave (which is prohibited), he was reading an magazine despite being illeterate, and his feet were stomped on at the toe of his clown shoes, yet his feet are only half the size. The show introduces the REAL Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer (then of Cheers fame), and it's easily one of my favorite episodes from the first few seasons. One of the running jokes from this episode was that each act opened with either Krusty or Sideshow Bob's face on a poster/whatever.
Rating: 10/10 - Once again, one of my favorite episodes from the first few years. Plenty of jokes (Homer making fun of his sisters and jumping into a pile of heavily salted snack treats) and a good story which lead to the recurring character of Sideshow Bob makes this a must-see from Season 1.
Episode #13: Some Enchanted Evening
Originally intended to be the series premiere but animation problems nearly killed the show before it was able to start, Marge feels like her family and Homer specifically, has been ignoring her, and phones in to Dr. Marvin Monroe for help. I guess he was the season 1 equivilant of Lionel Hutz, except being a shitty doctor instead of a shitty lawyer. Homer does his best to make piece with Marge, and they plan a night out, and finishing it at the Offramp Inn. Through the Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Baby-sitting Service, the Simpsons employ a Miss Botz (voiced by Penny Marshall), who ends up being the notorious Babysitter Bandit. Even with the help of Maggie, the Simpsons kids can't keep her down, thanks to the boneheaded intervention of Homer, who tries to cover up his stupidity on the news, despite being labeled a "local boob." And thus the season ends.
Rating: 7/10 - Not too good, but not too bad either. I'm sort of glad this wasn't the shows premiere, since first impressions are important with television series', and this one wasn't very impressive at all.
Bonus Features:
AUDIO COMMENTARY on all episodes:
Episode 1: Matt Groening, David Silverman (director), James L. Brooks
Episode 2: David Silverman (director), Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Jon Vitti (writer)
Episode 3: Matt Groening, Wes Archer (director), Wally Wolodarsky (writer), Jay Kogen (writer)
Episode 4: Matt Groening, Mike Reiss (writer), Al Jean (writer)
Episode 5: David Silverman (director), Matt Groening, James L. Brooks
Episode 6: Matt Groening, Mike Reiss (writer), Al Jean (writer), Wes Archer (director)
Episode 7: Wes Archer (director), Mike Reiss, Al Jean
Episode 8: Rich Moore (director), Mike Reiss (writer), Al Jean (writer)
Episode 9: Matt Groening, David Silverman (director), James L. Brooks, Al Jean
Episode 10: Matt Groening, Rich Moore (director), Jon Vitti (writer)
Episode 11: Wes Archer (director) and George Meyer (writer)
Episode 12: Matt Groening, Brad Bird (director), Wallace Wolodarsky (writer), Jay Kogen (writer)
Episode 13: David Silverman (director), Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Al Jean (writer)
- "Bart The Genius" Script on Disc 1
- "Bart The General" Script on Disc 1
- "Moaning Lisa" Script on Disc 1
- Never Before Seen Outtakes: From the unaired version of "Some Enchanted Evening" with optional commentary by Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, David Silverman, and Al Jean. Very painful to watch, as the animation is EXREMELY fucked up. Everything is off-model, from the characters (Marge seems to morph into a frog creature every 5 seconds) to the background objects. Really, everything is just so fucked up. The commentary is all four men basically whining out loud about how awful this was. I don't know if it's a joke, but apparently James Brooks left the studio while watching this. Jesus, this stuff is horrible. Imagine if THIS was how the Simpsons ended up looking. I wouldn't have been surprised if FOX gave up before it ever came to broadcast if this is what they were stuck with. (runs about 5 minutes)
- Animatic from "Bart The General" narrated by Matt Groening and David Silverman on Disc 3 (runs about 2 minutes).
- Making of the Simpsons: America's First Family Mini-Documentary. Includes interviews from Matt Groening (wearing an ugly-nerdy shirt), James L. Brooks (looking like... a guy), Al Jean (looking like a dork), and Charles Solomon (some dick from LA Times). Clips from the Tracy Ulman days and a quick look at Groening's comic strip "Life in Hell" also included. Oh, and look at the bootleg Bart Simpson T-Shirts! I didn't know he was black! (runs about 5 minutes).
- Foreign Language Clips from Life in the Fast Long in French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and the ever popular and well-taught language of Portuguese. Each clip lasts about a minute each.
- Tracy Ulman Short: "Good Night Simpsons" The first of what I believe were 48 shorts used as bumpers on the TUS, broadcasted in April of 1987. This one features Homer and Marge tucking their kids in bed, scaring them in some form, without knowing or intending it. Homer declares themselves the best parents in the world.
- Albert Brooks Audio Outtakes from "Life in the Fast Lane." Runs about 4 minutes, and is just Albert Brooks improvising his lines to photos taken from the episode.
- Art of the Simpsons, including Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" comic strip of the Los Angeles Way of Death which "caught the attention of James L. Brooks" (and is quite funny too) and early sketches and drawings from the show.
- "Some Enchanted Evening" Script on Disc 3.
Final Thoughts: Despite the rather bland animation, the characters sounding quite different, and a more "general audience" style instead of the random jokes only a few people get the shows do these days, Season 1 still holsds up quite well for the most part with realistic storylines and the occasional great joke. The show was still feeling its way around for success, but Season 1 is an easy Strong Recommendation, even if you've never seen the Simpsons before (and if you haven't, what rocks have you been living under?).